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Story:Kings of Strife/Int 2
Intermission Two “The world has already ended.” Those were the first words that the man completely swathed in black and red robes said to Maria, and they came many hours after the same man took her away from Crono. No, that wasn’t quite right. He hadn’t taken her away from Crono – she had chosen to leave all on her own. It would have been possible for Maria to stay with the mercenary and evade the capture of those she had involuntarily been running away from for much longer, perhaps even for years – but she had chosen against that. She slowed him down constantly by requesting regular breaks and sightseeing hours, knowing full well that they were being pursued by those wishing for her capture. The sooner she could leave Crono Silverius, the better. It would be easier for him to forget her if they didn’t spend too much time together… so she had to leave him as soon as possible. That was the rationale Maria had come up with after many days of serious, painful thought. Even so, the firm convictions she had developed weren’t enough to keep her from having her heart broken by the results of her decision, nor were they enough to give her strength when the mysterious blond person came after her and the robed man. She had been struck dumb, out of shock and painful guilt, and was unable to fight against the person she assumed was going to return her to Crono. The robed man had fought against the now-alive blond pilot himself, but was nowhere near strong enough to hold them off completely. Just when Maria was cornered and thought all of her heart-wrenching plans would go to rest – the blond survivor stole Crono’s sea-blue Crystal from her, and fled. The Crystal was worth more than her life. That was an unshakable truth proven to her a final time when that battle happened. Since then, Maria hadn’t bothered to hide her sorrow or continue asking questions of the robed man. Since then, she accepted her fate and knew that she had made the right decision. Yet now, the man covered in robes of various colors spoke to her, out of nowhere. They had been heading north, in the complete opposite direction of where she and Crono had been heading, and by now they had reached a sort of ruined intersection of land. To the far east was a hint of horizon where the earth retreated into the Voledar Bay; to the west, the stained yellow fringes of dry grass becoming sand started to appear; to the north and south, the beginnings of plains and forests were visible. As if the continent had made a natural meeting ground of biomes, there was an outcropping of old rock that jutted up from the ground, scattered like a giant had thrown down its discarded and ancient bones. The sun was starting to set off in the horizon; long shadows from it was holding the robed man completely in shadows. Suddenly he had stopped walking, turned his head slightly, and spoke to Maria for the first time. His words were to tell her that the world around them had already ended. “What… What are you talking about?” She timidly asked. Drawing her violet cloak around her shoulders, Maria frowned and looked over her captor. He was a little shorter than her, and he held a golden scepter in his hands, but he had been expressionless and silent for the entire journey so far. “Why are you speaking to me now…?” “We had to talk at some point. Even if we never were very close. And besides… We can’t leave this place just yet.” He crossed his arms and appeared to look up to the sky. The red hood over the man’s head did not fall to his shoulders. Maria looked down and took a step closer to the robed man, her foot entering the shadows of the ancient haphazard rocks. “So… We’ve met before? Is that what you’re saying?” The man tilted his head towards her, but not far enough that his eyes were visible. “So you really don’t remember anything. Whatever you did to yourself was… incredibly effective.” “N-no, it’s not like I don’t remember anything… I get flashes sometimes, and others I would lose myself to this… ‘other’ person. It was so uncomfortable… like I was becoming someone else, someone who tried to take over my body. I had hoped whoever was chasing me would know something about it.” “Let me guess… These episodes occurred only when you were near the Crystal, or rather, that man you were traveling with? …Hmph. You really didn’t pull any stops out in making things difficult for me, did you?” The man turned his head forward again, and gave a sigh. “Of course I know what happened to you… or rather, what you did to yourself. There’s no point in telling you about it, though. It’s a waste of breath.” “To… myself? You’re saying I took away my memories myself? Why would I ever do that?” Maria unconsciously shivered and hugged herself. While it was true that she hadn’t had any visions of the golden eyes or bouts of memory loss since leaving Crono – and the Crystal he apparently was holding onto – her departure had not been long enough for her to say conclusively either way. And besides, such a phenomenon didn’t explain a bit on her memory loss, let alone how she could have managed to do it to herself. Just who was that other person inside of her? “…I am interested,” the hooded man said after a few quiet moments. “Do you remember any of us, at all?” “…Us?” The man scoffed. “I suppose that answers that. Well, do you remember anything? Where you were when you awoke, or any such thing?” “I… Just a little bit, I suppose…” While she had some scarce memories that resurfaced after her extended stint of time with Crono, Maria wasn’t quite sure if she should be sharing such information with the enemy. ‘No,’ she reminded herself after a few moments of thought. ‘I am the enemy now. I’ve already made my choice.’ There was no point in hiding information any longer, she reasoned, not if it meant she would never reach answers to her pressing questions. “I awoke in Morshia City, I believe. I was underground, and tied up. Crono saved me. Besides that, all I remember is… a car, in the night… Explosions… A desert… and a woman. She was blond, I think, and… she was saying something to me, something important. She had tears in her eyes.” “Of course you’d remember her.” The robed man scoffed. “Don’t worry, she hasn’t forgotten about you, either. In fact, she’s been the one most active in retrieving you. Rather ironic, then, that the Leader put me in charge of personally bringing you back. Hah, or should I say, cruel…?” Maria’s brow wrinkled, and she took another step closer to the robed man. “Her? The Leader…? Who are you all?” “We are all your siblings. Or have you forgotten that, too?” This time, Maria’s answer came from someone besides the hooded man. She jumped at the sudden appearance of the other speaker, and looking up to the man in question, she found herself quietly gasping in fear. The new participant in the conversation was not that intimidating – he was just a little taller than her, but had very skinny legs and almost no muscle on his body. Rather, it was the fact that he stood on top of one of the ancient rocks with his back to the rising sun, thus covering himself in shadow, that frightened Maria. With his entire body enshrouded, the man’s wide, golden eyes were almost sparkling, and they were staring Maria down right to the depths of her soul. “Ah, T1, so you’ve finally decided to join us.” The robed man finally turned back towards Maria, and by extension the new person on the scene, and let his scepter rest on the ground beneath his hands like a cane. Like the man standing on the rocks, the robed figure’s eyes were also glowing with bright golden light. The skinny man hopped off the tall rock and landed with a squat in front of Maria, slightly startling her and sending her stepping backwards. “For the record, H4, you weren’t sent to personally retrieve her. We were.” A laugh drifted from the hood of the robed man. “It’s not my fault that you couldn’t keep up with my plan. The Leader will know that I am the one who took her back, and I alone.” “As if that will bring you any favor from him.” The man stood to his full height and put his hands in his pockets. Now that he did so, Maria could see that he wore a sharp navy blue suit, and that he had flowing red hair pulled back into a ponytail. He was also just a boy – from the softness of his face, despite its fierce expression, he looked almost ten years younger than Crono. In addition, Maria noticed as the boy spoke once more, his voice was not particularly deep at all. “Regardless, my search went without any results. There was nothing in the mountains.” “Very well,” the robed man said. “We will have to leave the rest to L9, then.” “Ugh. She’s going to go all out again, isn’t she? I’m tired of having to clean up after her, that hag.” “Um, excuse me… Is this really how siblings act to each other? Not to mention… how could there be such an age difference between us?” Now that she could see the robed man’s face for the first time, it was clear to Maria that he was at the peak of middle age, if not outright an elder. He had no hair on his head at all, and heavy lined wrinkles pulled at most of his tanned face. Both of the men in front of her looked at her with narrow, golden eyes, but only the tall boy spoke. “I knew it was too good to be true. You really don’t know anything anymore, do you? Tch… How arrogant of you to act in such a way.” “U-um…!” She wasn’t sure if she should be offended or apologize. Mostly, Maria couldn’t help but stare at the eyes of both men. They were the same shade of golden that she had seen in her dreams. “Relax, T1. You’re too spirited – isn’t youth the only true arrogance?” The elder man yawned and tapped his scepter on the ground. “This girl in front of you is nothing more than a placeholder for the woman we once knew. We cannot blame her for her ignorance, appalling though it may be.” “That doesn’t mean I can’t despise her still…” The boy hid none of his hatred as he glared right at Maria and held a twitching fist off to his side. “To think she would go so far to delay the Leader’s glorious plans…!” “I… I don’t understand what it is you’re talking about, but it has something to do with what I did to myself, doesn’t it?” Maria tried her best to swallow her fears once again, and she held her chest out as a physical act of this. “If we really are siblings, then we must have spent years together, growing and bonding. For me to act as horribly as you say I have, wouldn’t something truly awful had to have happened? If we were as close as you all say, surely I wouldn’t have removed my own memories of you over something that wasn’t dire.” H4 – the robed man – stood looking at Maria silently, but the skinny boy only scowled harder and turned up his nose at her. “You think that’s any justification for anything? How are we supposed to take that from a girl who just betrayed her lover to save her own skin?” he spat. Maria retreated and brought her hands up to her heart. “No! You’re wrong… It was all to save Crono! I didn’t want to drag him into what I had done…!” “You really are a fool. You think he can stay out of trouble for long? That man was chosen by the Crystal… and if it weren’t for the Leader’s orders, he would have been dead a long time ago. I’ve had plenty of times to kill you and him both, trust me.” “What…? Just how long…?” The boy laughed loudly into the tense air. “We’ve been right behind you all the whole time! You think it was some coincidence that the brat’s friends chased you two to Norzaven, or that the Crimson Death – that dirtbag - was hired to attack you two as soon as you left Morshia? The Leader sees everything… and we are his omnipresent fangs.” Maria found herself stunned as the taller boy narrowed his golden eyes and slowly started walking towards her. “I have a dream that is just. And I, Serpent Knight of the glorious order of Ouroboros, will not rest until it is fulfilled – even if I have to rip even you limb from limb. My dream is the dream of the Leader, and all of humanity… it was once yours, as well. Do you remember that, you slut?” “That’s quite enough, T1.” The deep voice of the elder man was all that stopped the glowering boy from making another step forward. As it was, he was only inches away from Maria when he stopped talking, and his eyes seemed to burn with a fire hotter than his flame-colored hair. “…Hmph. I need a cigarette…” The boy suddenly turned, his ponytail flowing in the wind, and started to walk past the immobile elder with his head down. “H4, I’m leaving. I don’t want to see her face anymore.” “The next phase, then?” “Of course. I have many things to prepare for my mission.” “Very well. We won’t see each other for a long time, then.” “You’re pleased about that, aren’t you? Hah. Right – the next time we meet, the world will be ending.” The boy stopped and gave one look back to Maria and the elder, with a wild grin on his face. There, covered in shadow and with glowing eyes, he looked wicked, yet completely at peace. “I can’t wait.” The rocky area was silent as the suited boy left. Just as before, the robed man spoke after some time, although he didn’t seem to be speaking to Maria this time. “No – the world has already ended. It ended the moment those two were born, together. It seems they can’t even be separated for very long…” He started off walking in the opposite direction of the boy, to the north-west. After some hesitation, Maria followed. “Don’t worry,” he said shortly afterwards. “I can’t promise you answers yet, but the end of your confusion is very near at hand.” “You really won’t tell me anything? Nothing at all?” “Like I said, I don’t feel like wasting my breath explaining anything to someone who won’t exist before long. If you were in your normal form, maybe… but I doubt it will matter to you at that point. Not if I do my job well.” Maria couldn’t help but feel downtrodden by his answer, but she knew that it was the best satisfaction she was likely going to get from him. ‘That’s all I ever was – someone with a limited existence.’ Deep inside, she had known that from the very beginning. ‘I was supposed to die there… Even though he saved me, I never did escape death, my destiny. How sad…’ The world had already ended, and she had spent all of this time marveling over what was going to disappear soon, just like herself. Her life had not been saved, but only prolonged. Even so, Maria did not regret a single moment of it. ‘No. I loved every minute of it... every minute that I got to spend with Crono.’ She had no memories of who she was before waking up and seeing Crono’s face – but that was enough. She looked up to the robed back of her ‘sibling’ and swallowed with conviction. “Sir, I have one favor to ask you. Please, as my sibling, I beg of you – please perform this final task for me.” ...End of Second Intermission. <- Intermission 1 -Crystal Heist- | Main Page | Intermission 3 - Revolution-